Israeli DM Blocking Gaza Probe

Amid growing international indications that Israel could make all the international problems stemming from its January invasion of the Gaza Strip go away by holding at least one open, credible investigation into it, many, including figures in the Israeli government are hoping to do exactly that.

But with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stalling on taking any position on the probe, Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s angry opposition to the idea seems to be winning the day, and is keeping the security cabinet from even broaching the subject in meetings.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry, led by the hawkish Avigdor Lieberman, has reportedly suggested launching a new international public relations campaign designed to discredit the Goldstone Report, which several in the Israeli government have claimed was an anti-semitic plot.

But the Goldstone Report is just the latest in a series of reports on the war all pointing to the same thing, war crimes which Israel refuses to publicly inquire into. This likely isn’t going away simply because Barak, who oversaw the invasion, wants it to. Though most of the current Israeli government (Barak notwithstanding) wasn’t in power at the time of the invasion, the war was also hugely popular in Israel and endorsed by the assorted hawkish parties that make up the current coalition, making any reconsideration of its behavior during the war likely unpopular.